FERNANDINHO expected a battle but enjoyed a stroll in the park in his first Manchester derby.

Fernandinho reckons that Man United will do all they can to win at home tonight [GETTY]

But he does not believe Manchester United will be as bad tonight as they were at the Etihad Stadium in September.

Manchester City were 4-0 up after only 50 minutes that day and United were such a shambles they could have had more but for easing their collective foot off the pedal with the three points in the bag.

This time Fernandinho believes it will be a far more of a typical derby battle with City aiming to keep their Premier League title ambitions on track and United bidding to salvage some pride from a wretched season when Old Trafford has become the Theatre of Screams.

"I was surprised how badly United played that day," he said. "It was the first time I'd played them after joining City. They are a club with a lot of history, with very good players and they were the champions but we won easily.

"That game against us was a long time ago and the situation is different now because we are fighting for the title and they are not. They are just fighting for honour now.

"It has been a bad season for them but I saw their Champions League game against Olympiakos on television and they played very well.

"This will be my first game at Old Trafford and I am looking forward to it. We will go there expecting to win. They are all big games for us now. We know we cannot afford to drop a single point. This derby and the game at Arsenal on Saturday will both be like cup finals. We have to look to win them both.

"We will have to play well because it is a very important game for us but we know anything can happen in a derby. We will be ready for it. Before big games, it's always important to build up your form and confidence and we did that with our wins against Hull and Fulham."

Yaya Toure will be hoping to add to his 20 goals from midfield [GETTY]

Results are the most important thing and we are helping to get them

Fernandinho

City's midfield swamped United in the first derby and it is the goal output from the players in the middle of the park that helps to explain the 12-point gap between the clubs in the table.

City's midfielders and wide players have eased the burden of their recently mis-firing strikers by contributing 46 goals in all competitions this season, with Yaya Toure weighing in with a remarkable 20, Samir Nasri eight, David Silva and Jesus Navas both six, Fernandinho four and James Milner two.

But United have only scored 13 from the same department with six of their midfielders - Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, Shinji Kagawa, Juan Mata, Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs - yet to score at all this season.

"Yes, the midfielders are doing well right now," added Fernandinho. "And I think it's the right moment for us to be in good form because out strikers are not scoring at the moment. The midfield is keeping up the level of performance and scoring goals as well.

"Results are the most important thing and we are helping to get them. We hope our strikers can get back to the way they were at the start of the season.

Fernandinho is confident Negredo can rediscover his goal-scoring touch [GETTY]

"I think Alvaro Negredo will be scoring again soon - against United, I hope. I've told him to keep calm because the goals will come back soon. But until then we will carry on trying to score the goals for them.

"It does surprise me United have not scored many from midfield because they have good midfielders. But we can't go into the game thinking that their midfielders won't score against us. I'm sure they can score goals from midfield but then so can we. We need to be careful.

"It will be better if we go there and score at least two goals - we will be looking to attack them and play our normal game against them. The title could come down to which team has a better goal difference but the first thing you must think about is the victory. If you can score more then it's good for us, of course. But getting the three points is the priority.

"Since going out of the FA Cup and Champions League we have been able to focus just on the Premier League and we'll get better and better. We will look to carry on in the same way we have been playing and hope that we come out on top."

City are clear favourites to complete only their third League double over United since the early 1970s but Fernandinho will be surprised if David Moyes' team prove to be such pushovers as they were last September.